
Author 



Title 



Imprint 



16—47372-2 opo 



^JVERIC4; V 
DEMOCRACY 



BY 



/ 



CHARLES P. ROBINSON, A. B., L. L. B. 



Member of Allegheny County Bar 



* 



o^otH^ 



--** 



PITTSBURGH, PA.: 

PRESS OF W. T. NICHOLSON 

1896. 







Entered according to Act of Congress, 

in the year 1896, by 

CHARLES P. ROBINSON, 

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, 

at Washington, D. C. 



PREFACE. 



The evolution theory, the doctrines of natural selec- 
tion, and survival of the fittest, seem to be the reverse side 
of the shield of predestination, f oreordination, and fatalism; 
and all are closely allied to the Pilgrim ideas of immedi- 
ate responsibility to God, imitation of Christ, and self- 
government. Being of the ninth generation in direct 
lineal descent from Rev. John Robinson, the Pilgrim 
pastor, my curiosity led me into the study of Pilgrim 
ideas, and this little book is the result of my researches 
on the idea of self-government, which breathes nothing 
more nor less than the spirit of the golden rule. 

C. P. ROBINSON. 
Pittsburgh, Feb. 22d, 1896. 



INDEX. 



PART I. 

History of Democracy. 



CHAPTER I. 

Ancient German Democracy. 



CHAPTER II. 

The Great Charter. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Coyenant of the Pilgrims. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Constitution of Connecticut. 

CHAPTER V. 

The Constitution of the United States. 



PART II. 

Democracy in the United States. 



CHAPTER I. 

Principles. 



CHAPTER II. 

The Corporation of the People. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Legislative Department. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Executive Department. 

CHAPTER V. 

The Judicial Department. 



PART I. 



History of Democracy. 

CHAPTEK I. 



ANCIENT GERMAN DEMOCRACY. 

The seeds of honor, religion, and patriotism, lie buried 
deep within you. Honor is dearer to you than life. Re- 
ligion is part of your very nature. Patriotism within you, 
sleeping, but never dead, will rise in majesty to meet 
every occasion. Democracy, the rule of the people, by 
the people, for the people, is the burden of my theme. 
Let us go together for a time and try to find exactly what 
pure democracy means. 

In seeking truth we must be plain and simple, ever 
patient, ever responsive, yet firm and steadfast as the 
foundations of eternity itself ; and when instinct, reason, 
and conscience agree in pointing out the right, we must 
follow it with absolute fidelity, in a uniform and harmo- 
nious progression, to the bitter end, even if it breaks our 
hearts or tears the flesh from our bones, for this alone is 
the way to happiness, and happiness is all we hope for in 
this state of life or the next. 

The roots of the present are grounded deep in the 
past, so we must turn back the pages of history and try to 
find the source of American democracy, and trace it down 
to the present time. The first account of a pure democracy 
is given by Tacitus, which Gibbon, in his history of "The 
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," (Yol. 1, chap- 
ter 9) states as follows : 



" Civil governments, in their first institution, are 
voluntary associations for mutual defense. To obtain the 
desired end, it is absolutely necessary that each individual 
should conceive himself obliged to submit his private 
opinions and actions to the judgment of the greater num- 
ber of his associates. The German tribes were contented 
with this rude but liberal outline of political society. As 
soon as a youth, born of free parents, had attained the 
age of manhood, he was introduced into the general coun- 
cil of his countrymen, solemnly invested with a shield and 
spear, and adopted as an equal and worthy member of the 
commonwealth. The assembly of the warriors of the mili- 
tary tribe was convened at stated seasons, or on sudden 
emergencies. The trial of public offenses, the election of 
magistrates, and the great business of peace and war, were 
determined by its independent voice. Sometimes indeed, 
these important questions were previously considered and 
prepared in a more select council of the principal chief- 
tains. The magistrates might deliberate and persuade, 
the people only could resolve and execute. * " x " * A 
general of the tribe was elected on occasions of danger; 
and if pressing and extensive, several tribes concurred in 
the choice of the same general. The bravest warrior was 
named to lead his countrymen into the field, by his ex- 
ample rather than by his commands. But this power, 
however limited, was still invidious. It expired with the 
war, and in time of peace the German tribes acknowledged 
not any supreme chief. Princes were, however, appointed, 
in the general assembly to administer justice, or rather to 
compare differences, in their respective districts. In the 
choice of these magistrates, as much regard was shov/n to 



birth as to merit. * * * The Germans respected only 
those duties which they imposed on themselves. * * * 
Tacitus indulges an honest pleasure in the contrast of 
barbarian virtue with the dissolute conduct of the Koman 
ladies. * * * The German huts, open, on every side 
to the eye of indiscretion and jealousy, were a better safe- 
guard of conjugal fidelity, than the walls, the bolts, and the 
eunuchs of a Persian harem. To this reason another may 
be added, of a more honorable nature. The Germans 
treated their women with esteem and confidence, consult- 
ed them on every occasion of importance, and fondly be- 
lieved that in their breasts resided a sanctity and wisdom 
more than human." 



CHAPTER II. 



THE GREAT CHARTER. 

The second salient point in the evolution of democ- 
racy is "Magna Carta" of King John (1215 A. D.,) 
and the important part of this charter is Article 39, 
(Stubbs Select Charters, p. 301), which may be translated 
as follows : 

"No free man shall be arrested or imprisoned, or 
deprived of his property, or outlawed, or exiled, or in- 
jured in any manner, nor will we ourselves lay hands 
upon him, except in accordance with the lawful judgment 
of his peers or the law of the land." 

And the vital clause of this article is c ' the law of 
the land," which in truth settled nothing, for the kings 



8 



still claimed and exercised the right to make " the law of 
the land." But this charter is conclusive evidence, that 
the pendulum had swung from the pure democracy of the 
ancient Germans, to the absolute monarchy of England. 
And yet it should be said to the honor of the English Judges, 
that they stood up manfully against the king, and so inter- 
preted this article of "Magna Carta", that the liberties 
of the English people have been regained, and indeed it 
it is often asserted that the constitutional law of England, 
is nothing more than a commentary on this article. 
It may be observed that the phrase "the law of the land" 
is usually translated "due process of law." and in the 
latter form it appears in our Federal Constitution, where 
it means nothing whatever, but is simply a glittering gen- 
erality, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." 
An examination of all the cases in which it appears, shows 
that everything depends upon the Judge before whom the 
case is brought, and an ignorant or corrupt Judge may 
call almost anything "due process of law." 



CHAPTEK III. 



THE COVENANT OF THE PILGRIMS. 

The pure democracy of the ancient Germans fell 
down dead, but the Pilgrim Fathers did its light relume. 
Men with wills of steel and hearts of oak did make these 
dry bones live again. Its spirit found a local habitation 
in the covenant made on the Mayflower. Listen to its 
voice : 



i i "\\r e * * * covenant and combine ourselves 
together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering 
and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; 
and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such 
just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and 
offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet 
and convenient for the general good of the colony. Unto 
which we promise all due submission and obedience." 
(Goldwin Smith's Political History of the United States, 
pp. 5 and 6). 

Here again we hear the primordial cry of self-govern- 
ment. " We frame such just and equal laws * # * 
for the general good of the colony," and the response 
comes, "Unto which we promise all due submission and 
obedience." Here again we find united the first and 
second principles of self-government, and the plain and 
simple democracy of the ancient Germans. 

The Pilgrims were exiles from home, and must not 
be confounded with the Puritans of Massachusetts. The 
Pilgrims undertook to ' ' plant the first colony in the 
northern parts of Virginia' ' c ' for the glory of God and ad- 
vancement of the Christian faith. ' ' At first their scheme 
was socialistic. They held all things in common, but 
actual experience soon brought them face to face with 
starvation, They found that the strongest incentive to 
individual exertion had been removed, and the lazy im- 
posed on the more industrious until they too lapsed into 
idleness. Actual want forced them to allot the land in 
private ownership. From this allotment was born the 
spirit of individual independence; cradled in a fierce fight 
for existence against stubborn nature, it leaped forth at 
Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill, ranging for liberty. 



IO 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE CONSTITUTION OF CONNECTICUT. 

The Pilgrims did not spread over Massachusetts, but 
moved westward into Connecticut, and it is here we find 
the next period in the evolution of self-government — the 
first written constitution the world had ever seen. 
Article 10 of the Constitution of 1639, (Johnston's His- 
tory of Connecticut, pp. 389-396),reads "It is Ordered, sen- 
tenced and decreed ' ' * * * that ' ' In which said 
Generall Courts shall consist the supreme power of the 
Commonwelth, and they only shall haue power to make 
lawes or repeale them, * * * and also may deale in 
any other matter that concerns the good of this Common- 
welth. " And in the preamble we find the response: "As 
also in our Ciuell Affaires to be guided and gouerned ac- 
cording to such Lawes, Rules, Orders and decrees as shall 
be made, etc." 

Here again we find the first and second principles of 
self-government. The people make the laws ' 'for the good 
of this Commonwelth," and agree "to be guided and 
gouerned according to such lawes. ' ' In this way the people 
did rule themselves. 

It is to be observed that the General Court is not 
exactly the General Assembly of the ancient Germans. 
A new step has been taken. It is not an Assembly of all 
the people, but merely an assembly of "deputyes, " repre- 
senting the people. The people now make the laws 
through their representatives. 



II 



CHAPTER V. 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The fifth and final step in the evolution of self 
government is the Constitution of the United States. In 
Section 1, of Article I, it is established that: 

"All legislative powers herein granted, shall be 
vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall 
consist of a senate and house of representatives." And 
its complement is found in Section 1, of Article II. : 

" The executive power shall be vested in a President 
of the United States of America, etc." and in Section 3: 
" he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed. " 
Here we find, as in the Connecticut Constitution, that the 
people make the laws through their agents, and this idea 
is further developed in that they also elect, by direct vote, an 
agent to see that the laws are obeyed. Of course both these 
steps were the invention of necessity. It was not practical 
for all the people to meet in one assembly, and also in prac- 
tice all did not obey the laws. Yet the two primordial 
principles of self government are here. The people make 
their own laws by their agents, and by their agent see 
that they are obeyed. But it was not yet the pure de- 
mocracy of the ancient Germans, because the Tenth 
Amendment made it impossible to tell whether it was a 
compact between the States, or a charter established by 
all the people of the United States as a body. It reads: 
' ' The powers not delegated to the United States by the 
constitutiou, nor prohibited by it to the states, are re- 
served to the states respectively or to the people. ' ' This 



12 



was a compromise of the principle of self government 
that all legislative power must belong "to the people." 
If any power was " reserved to the states ", so that they 
could interfere with the legislative power of Congress, it 
follows, as a matter of course, that the people would not 
have the absolute power of making all laws through their 
delegates in Congress. The words "reserved to the 
states respectively," gave the States a claim to the rights 
of nullification and secession, because these powers were 
"not delegated to the United States by the constitution, 
nor prohibited by it to the states." This claim was set- 
tled by the sword in 1865, and given expression in the 
Fifteenth Amendment, thus: "The right of citizens of the 
United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by 
the United States, or by any state, on account of race, 
color, or previous condition of servitude." 

This conclusively disposed of the claim to secession, 
for this was the precise and logical issue formed by the 
indirect interference of Congress with the voting power 
of slaves, alias ' ' persons, ' ' and this brought us again to a 
pure democracy. 



13 
F>ART II. 



Democracy in the United States. 



CHAPTEK I. 



PRINCIPLES. 

A principle is an axiom. It must be a truth 
of universal application. The person who has in- 
vestigated the greatest number of special cases, ought to 
be able to approximate a principle more closely than one 
who has examined a less number. But special cases are 
infinite in number and variety, and it is impossible for the 
human mind to conceive of all that may arise, let alone 
examine them. Therefore the inductive method of rea- 
soning is limited, and by following it we can never arrive 
at absolute truth. Yet the inductive method may furnish 
a basis for a hypothetic principle, which we can assume as 
absolute truth until it is proven otherwise. 

Nature will allow us to assume that there is a male 
principle, and its counterpart a female principle. 

It seems that a male principle is essential to the 
creation of anything, and everything, and a male principle 
implies that there must be a female principle. The one 
cannot exist or create anything without the other. Let us 
draw our illustration from nature. The water seems to be 
the male principle and the earth the female. The con- 
junction of these two bring forth life, vegetable and ani- 



14 



mal. The female seems to be the artist, and just as the 
earth fashions and moulds the plant, so the female among 
animals fashions and moulds her offspring from its con- 
ception to its birth. 

Leaving the realms of nature and coming into the 
artificial world, here again we find two essential principles 
in everything. In architecture the male principle is the 
organic structure, and the details the female; so in music 
the organic structure of a composition is the male prin- 
ciple, and the melodic phraseing the female. 

Thus it is possible to go on multiplying illustrations, but 
these few will suffice to make my meaning clear, and allow 
us to assume that there are at least two principles in every- 
thing, and essential to the creation of anything. And 
just as one principle is the complement of the other, so it 
is also the opposite of the other. In nature we know that 
light is the opposite of darkness, heat is the opposite of 
cold, and in artificial creations the organic structure is 
always the opposite of the details. 

A principle has neither beginning nor end, hence it 
must be circular and move in a circle, just as our planet 
is round and moves round the sun. And just as a certain 
conclusion follows if we have the major and minor premises 
of a syllogism, so if we have the two principles in any- 
thing we find a certain result, and we can call this result 
force, nature, reason, law, truth or what you will. At any- 
rate it is a law of God. It is a rule which God used in 
his creations — in the creations of nature. If we follow 
the same rule or rules, and apply the same law or laws in 
our creations the result is a perfect work of art. 

It is not my purpose to start a new religion, or build 



15 



up a new system of philosophy, therefore it is only proper 
to try to apply these principles to democracy. 



CHAPTEK II. 



THE CORPORATION OF THE PEOPLE. 

' ' ' The United States of America' is the true name 
of that grand corporation which the American people have 
formed, and the charter will, I trust, long remain in full 
force and vigor, ' ' are the words of Chief Justice Marshall 
in the case of Dixon vs. The United States (reported in 1 
Brockenbrough's reports page 181). 

In early days all great enterprises were undertaken 
by individuals, but experience soon developed the fact 
that one person was not able to perform any great work, 
so partnerships were formed, but here also it was soon 
discovered that partners would die, and thus destroy the 
enterprise, so corporations were formed — a fictitious person 
having the attribute of immortality. In close analogy to 
this the idea of self-government grew up. At first an in- 
dividual possessing the power of sovereignty would govern 
a country. The experience of mankind has shown it to 
be almost impossible to find a man, able to rule a country 
for the best interest of all concerned, and if such a one 
was found, his existence was short. So there has grown 
up the idea of a fictitious sovereign, in the nature of a 

CORPORATION,POSSESSING THE ATTRIBUTE OF INDIVIDUALITY AND 

immortality. Congress is the board of directors, and the 



i6 



President is the general manager. Each citizen is a stock- 
holder therein, and circumstances, throug h political parties, 
are allowed to develop the men best suited to be officers 
thereof. For example, the president is always the man, 
who can control the greatest number of votes in his own 
party, and at the same time draw the greatest number from 
the other parties; for, when it comes down to an election 
nothing counts but votes. In this way we arrive at the 
choice of the greatest number, and it seems to be the gen- 
eral opinion of politicians, that any other policy in making 
a nomination is a party's suicide. The dividends or assess- 
ments of the stockholders depend upon the kind of gov- 
ernment they get. 

This corporation has a charter, ordained and estab- 
lished by the people, and this charter is the Constitution. 
This Constitution consists of seven articles, the first two 
of which contain the two fundamental principles of self- 
government, while the other five and the amendments are 
merely corollaries to them. The first article establishes 
the legislative department. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 

The establishment of the legislative department was 
the result of a compromise. At an early stage of the 
constitutional convention two plans appeared. The first 
called the ' 'Virginia Plan", was calculated to secure all 
the spoils to a combination of the larger States. The 



17 



second called the ''Jersey Plan", was a counter scheme to 
secure the safety of the smaller States. The "Conn- 
ecticut Proposal", of two houses with an equal vote in the 
upper (the Senate), and proportionate representation in the 
lower (House of Representatives), came forward and was 
finally adopted. Since the fall of the idea of State sov- 
erignty, the reason for this arrangement — jealousy of 
the larger States — has passed away, and it would now be 
an easy matter for the two houses to melt into one 
general assembly. 

The upper house, or Senate, consists of two mem- 
bers from each State, and is presided over by the Vice- 
President of the United States, or in his absence, by a 
president pro tern, selected from its own members. It 
organizes itself into a series of committees, and every mat- 
ter of business is referred to its appropriate committee. 
The House of Representatives organizes itself by electing 
a Speaker, Clerk, and Sergeant-at-Arms, and then the 
Speaker appoints a series of committtees appropriate for 
every kind of business that may come before the House. 

Nature is double. We have the freedom to do right, 
but unfortunately we also have the freedom to do wrong; 
and it should be the aim of every individual not so much 
to do right as to get rid of this freedom to do wrong, and 
yet avoid extremes. So the object of all legislation 
should be to correct evils or abuses — to right wrong. 

The fundamental evil in $ democracy is corruption. 
The love of money very often blasts the most lofty patri- 
otism, and it is in Congress and state legislatures that we 
find it running riot ever since the late war. It 
may be asserted that with few exceptions, all the great 



i8 



fortunes in this country had their origin in corrupt 
legislation. Every fortune which is not the fruit of 
industry and economy, is usually acquired by fraud, 
and should not belong to the possessor any more 
than any other kind of stolen property. A good illus- 
tration is the case of public franchises in the hands of 
railroads and trusts. The theory of the law is, the 
people give to these the right to take the 
property of individuals — called the right of eminent 
domain — no matter whether they want to part with it or 
not, in trust that they will be managed for the 
benefit of the public. In practice they are usually man- 
aged, through bribery and utter disregard of law, for the 
sole benefit of a few stockholders, who are enriched at 
the expense of the great body of people, and give nothing 
in return. It is now high time that we have some legis- 
lation looking towards the restoration of this stolen prop- 
erty to the people, and to the punishment of all offenders. 
This punishment should be severe, for, as Washington 
has said, no punishment is too great for the man, who 
builds his fortunes upon the ruins of his country. 

A step in the right direction is that of the Corrupt 
Practices Act of Massachusetts, in which an attempt is 
made to specify each particular offense and the punish- 
ment for it. 

Another great evil, riding like the old man of the 
sea upon the backs of Congressmen, is that of appoint- 
ments in the civil service. A custom has grown up by 
which it is understood that Congressmen of the dominant 
party, shall control certain appointments as spoils of war. 
Personal service and not fitness for the position seems to 



l 9 



be the sole motive for making such appointments, and 
each member of Congress tries to build up a band of fol- 
lowers, like the ancient feudal system, which in modern 
times is called a "machine." 

The ancient feudal system broke down, and it is hard 
to see why the modern political machine system will not 
go the same way. In the first place it uses up the time 
of Congressmen, who should devote their energies to the 
business of legislating for the benefit of the people, and 
not in pulling wires for petty offices. And from a prac- 
tical point of view, it is bad policy for a Congressman to 
have anything to do with appointments. If he secures 
an appointment for one friend, he turns all other applicants 
for the same place into enemies, and the result is that a 
Congressman rarely ever serves more than one or two 
terms. But the greatest and most profound reason of all, 
is that offices are usually held up before Congressmen 
like hay before balky mules, in order to make them do 
something that the Executive wants. When the subtle 
Octavian came upon the scene, he used this precise policy 
toward the Roman Senators, and little by little the latter 
prostituted their ancient virtues to the will of Octavian, 
until they became completely subservient thereto, and the 
liberties of a free people were lost, never to be regained. 

A law should be passed with a severe penalty, pre- 
venting any Congressman from making, or in any way 
pulling wires for appointments in the civil service. This 
would be a good thing, not only for the people, but for 
the Congressmen themselves. 



20 

CHAPTEK IV. 

THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 

4 ' By the constitution of the United States, the Presi- 
dent is invested with certain important political powers, 
in the exercise of which he is to use his own discretion, 
and is accountable only to his country in his political 
character, and to his own conscience. To aid him in the 
performance of these duties, he is authorized to appoint 
certain officers, who act by his authority and in conform- 
ity with his orders." (Chief Justice Marshall in Mar- 
burry v. Madison, 1 Cranch, 165-6). 

The most important officers which the Ex- 
ecutive appoints are, the Secretary of State, 
Secretary of the Treasury, Attorney General, Post- 
master General, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of 
War, Secretary of the Interior, and Secretary of Agricul- 
ture. These men are called his Cabinet, and after being 
confirmed by the Senate, become the heads of their res- 
pective dspartments. It is probably safe to say that 
about all the officers below these are ministerial officers, 
who should not be the subject of change, merely because 
of a change in the policy of the Chief Executive, or in 
case of the election of a new president. The fundamental 
idea of true civil service reform is, that all officers whose 
duties are not purely ministerial, should be subject to re- 
moval at the will of the President, because men who have 
a discretion naturally follow their own inherent political 
convictions; but all officers whose duties are purely minis- 
terial, should be removable only on account of unfitness. 

The Executive is supreme within his sphere 



21 



of action. If this were not so the people could not hold 
anybody responsible for bad appointments. Of course 
the President is only human, and liable to mistakes of 
judgment. He may be deceived by his advisors, and 
they in turn may be mistaken in their man, and the man 
himself may have led a pure life, and yet in a moment 
of weakness fall never to rise again. For these reasons 
bad appointments may be often excused, but it is hard to 
overlook the sale of the high office of Postmaster General, 
and the important position of Ambassador to Italy. The 
former sale was consummated and carried out to the end, 
but the parties to the latter had the courage to rectify 
it before it was too late, and gave us an able man who is 
worth at least the salary paid to him. 

Government contracts are the black beast of the 
executive department. It is a very easy matter to trace 
the great fortunes in the United States down to a public 
franchise, or a government contract, and straight into the 
public treasury. A citizen pays his money into the treasury 
by way of taxes. Every cent that is taken from it by a 
contractor without giving true value in return, is morally 
a theft from the citizen and treason to the nation. Fraud 
should vitiate all contracts, and the statute of limitations 
should not run against the interests of the people. 

We have had our Credit Mobilier, Belknap's im- 
peachment, and the Star Koute cases. We now have 
Armor Plate. The two chief gentlemen concerned in the 
last were there in double trust. The one for his eminent 
public services and fearless honesty, the other an unques- 
tionable philanthropist and a master in his business. There 
virtues " plead like angels, trumpet tongued, at the deep 



22 



But just as the wives of the 
ancient Germans kept open the sides of their "huts ", so 
that all could see what was going on within while their 
husbands were away, so public servants should transact 
all public business openly and before the eyes of the 
people. But if the blinds are pulled down and the house 
darkened, grim suspicion will peer in at the lattice, strong 
men will bow themselves, and imagination " horsed upon 
the sightless couriers of the air shall blow the horrid deed 
in every eye. ' ' For this is the purpose of the public 
press, which is the real safeguard of the nation. Light is 
the opposite of darkness. 

But the people will rise up at the voice of the patriot, 
for the grasshopper has become a burden. The golden 
bowl will be broken and the silver cord loosed. 



CHAPTEK V. 



THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT. 

From the union of the legislative and executive, was 
born the judicial department. It comes third in the nat- 
ural order, and hence we find in Article III,, Section 1 
of the Constitution, that "The Judicial power of the 
United States shall be vested in one supreme court, and 
in such inferior courts as the congress may, from time to 
time, ordain and establish." 

All the United States Judges are appointed by the 



23 



President and confirmed by the Senate. The Supreme 
Court consists of a Chief Justice and eight Associates. 
The most important inferior Courts so far established by 
Congress are: First, an Appellate Court consisting of two 
Appellate Judges and the Circuit Judge; second, the Cir- 
cuit Court presided over by a Circuit Judge; and third, a 
District Court presided over by a District Judge. Each 
Court organizes itself by selecting its own officers. 

Although the judiciary is the legitimate child of the 
legislative and executive principles, yet it stands alone in 
its grandeur. Its position is purely negative. It origi- 
nates nothing. The following words of Chief Justice 
Marshall (Marbury vs. Madison, 1 Cranch, p. 176,) 
illuminate and define its sphere: 

' 'That the people have an original right to establish, 
for their future government, such principles as, in their 
opinion, shall most conduce to their own happiness, is the 
basis, on which the whole American fabric has been 
erected. The exercise of this original right is a very 
great exertion; nor can it, nor ought it to be frequently 
repeated. The principles, therefore, so established, are 
deemed fundamental. And as the authority, from which 
they proceed, is supreme and can seldom act, they are de- 
signed to be permanent. ' ' 

"This original and supreme will organizes the gov- 
ernment, and assigns, to different departments, their re- 
spective powers. It may either stop here; or establish 
certain limits not to be transcended by those departments. " 

"The government of the United States is of the latter 
description. The powers of the Legislature are defined, 
and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken, 



24 



or forgotten, the constitution is written." 

(Pp. 179-80.) And "it is apparent,that the framers 
of the constitution contemplated that instrument, as a 
rule for the government of courts, as well as the legis- 
lature. ' ' 

But like the leaden-eyed angel of the flaming sword, 
the Judiciary cuts both right and left. It not only decides 
the limits of the Legislature, but also the limits of the 
Executive power. And yet (Ibid, pp. 170) "The province 
of the Court is solely to decide on the rights of individu- 
als, not to inquire how the Executive, or executive offi- 
cers, perform duties in which they have a discretion." 

A question is brought before the Court in regular 
order, the principle applicable to the case is stated 
and applied to the facts, and judgment pronounced. This 
principle should be carried out to its logical end, and the 
judgment executed as relentlessly and inexorably as the 
decrees of fate, or eke favoritism will creep in and the 
guilty go unpunished. 

The Koman Lawyers built up a system of private law, 
so logical that its principles when applied, worked out 
almost perfect justice between man and man, yet they 
failed in public law — that is in finding the true principles 
of government. 

The object of modern law schools, judges and law- 
yers, is to find out, from a study of the common law, such 
fundamental principles, as when applied, will work out 
exact justice between man and man. To find a principle 
of law — a true rule of action — a vast number of cases 
must be examined, compared, and distinguished. And 
we must always remember, that a principle of law is only 



25 



hypothetic, unless it will work out justice in all cases. For 
illustration, the Supreme Court is often criticised for lay- 
ing down a principle in one case, which cannot he follow- 
ed in all. It has decided that all cases for the applica- 
tion of the police power, "are questions of fact and of 
public policy which belong to the legislative department 
to determine" (Powell vs. Pennsylvania, 127 U. S. p. 
685). This ruling places the legislature of a state beyond 
the reach of the constitution, and simply means when 
carried to its logical end, that if a "boss" gets control of 
a legislature, he can have any law he wants, passed, call it 
an exercise of the police power, and take his enemies 
property without making any compensation. This is a 
breach of the first principle of public law — that all laws 
must be "just and equal." 

It should be our aim to make each department of the 
government, move in the orbit fixed for it by the Consti- 
tution as accurately as the planets move round the sun, 
and just as we approach this ideal, we will come near to a 
system of government that is divine. Already the cor- 
porate structure of our system is broad as the country 
itself, and includes all the people. Power flows in a 
circle from the people to Congress, from Congress to the 
President, and from the President back to the people. 

Among individuals reason should legislate, the body 
execute, and conscience be the judge. They should apply 
the principles herein set forth first to themselves, then to 
their families, thence to wards and townships, thence to 
cities, boroughs and counties, thence to states, and finally 
to the national government. 



26 



Then all would move in wondrous harmony and life 
be a pleasant dream. 

This little book is written with charity for all, and 
malice toward none. The right to change, modify or 
abridge, anything contained herein is reserved, if any 
further light breaks forth from any source whatever. The 
ideas herein suggested will be further developed, if they 
meet with the approval of the people. 



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Treatment Date: 

UN '999 

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